Spiritual refining

First; Men turn from sin, but not to God, when they commit them no more, because ¹the temptations and occasions are taken away: So that if they would, yet they cannot have an opportunity to satisfy or accomplish their lusts: There is nothing more ordinary then this, men conclude they are converted, because they do not sin as they have done; whereas the true cause is; the temptations and opportunities are removed; so that there is not the work of Gods grace changing thy heart, but the work of his providence removing the objects thereof. Snakes and Adders they lie in their holes, and are alive as well in winter as in summer, yet because in winter they want the warm reviving beams of the Sun, therefore they appear not out of their holes: Thus sin, it may be, is as lively and powerful in thee as ever, but there are not the kindly and warm temptations to draw it forth: So then, this is no turning to God, because thy heart is still the same. The Lyon is a Lyon, though his claws be pared off, and he tied up in a dungeon: That King who stretched out his hand to lay hold on the Prophet, and his arm withered, was never the more innocent, because he did not actually commit his designed mischief; and certainly if the hearts of godly men have deceived them, that they have thought it not possible for them to commit such sins, as they have been warned about; as we see in Peter about ⟨p. 476⟩his Apostasy, no wonder if wicked men do so greatly delude their own souls: It may be then thou canst not be unclean, as thou hast been, thy body is an old painful decrepit body; thou canst not be such a Prodigal as thou hast been, for thou hast not wherewith to do it: Alas! thou art not converted from sin, thou art only deprived of the instruments of sin; therefore stand thou by, for here is no glad tidings for thee.

First; Men turn from sin, but not to God, when they commit them no more, because ¹the temptations and occasions are taken away: So that if they would, yet they cannot have an opportunity to satisfie or accomplish their lusts: There is nothing more ordinary then this, men conclude they are converted, because they do not sin as they have done; whereas the true cause is; the temptations and opportunities are removed; so that there is not the work of Gods grace changing thy heart, but the work of his providence removing the objects thereof. Snakes and Adders they lie in their holes, and are alive as well in winter as in summer, yet because in winter they want the warm reviving beams of the Sun, therefore they appear not out of their holes: Thus sin, it may be, is as lively and powerful in thee as ever, but there are not the kindely and warm temptations to draw it forth: So then, this is no turning to God, because thy heart is still the same. The Lyon is a Lyon, though his claws be pared off, and he tied up in a dungeon: That King who stretched out his hand to lay hold on the Prophet, and his arm withered, was never the more innocent, because he did not actually commit his designed mischief; and certainly if the hearts of godly men have deceived them, that they have thought it not possible for them to commit such sins, as they have been warned about; as we see in Peter about